Charming the Children
by Catney
Summary: Piper vanquishes the wrong demon and puts the souls of several children in danger. Takes place a while after Pheobe's wedding.
1. Prolouge

Charming the children

By Catney

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Charmed. All characters copyrighted to their proper creators. I lay claim on the Kinder demon and Marryn as my own creations and that's all. Thanks.

This story takes place after Pheobe's wedding.

Prolouge:

Traffic on the highway was practically hellish. The cars moved at pace that would make a snail laugh. Pheobe and her sisters were getting restless. Amazing, even when there was no rush to get anywhere, a traffic jam still racked at the nerves.

"Why couldn't we get Leo to orb us over to this antique and curios shop?" Paige huffed as she curled up in the back.

"One: He's handling his one of his other charges right now. Two: We're not in a hurry to get the amulet so we don't have to abuse the power of our whitelighter," Piper replied tartly as she stared out the window.

"Oh, I think see the reason for the hold up," Pheobe craned her neck to see past the cars in the other two lanes. "It's a car accident."  
"Should have figured," Paige leaned over to the front seats to see the accident.

"Hey! Hey!" Piper lightly slapped at her half sister. "You're not six, get back there."

"What? The traffic isn't even going 10 miles per hour. No ones going to die," Paige then suddenly gasped at the sight out the car window.

Police officers were directing traffic around the remains of three cars that crushed one another. The accident took up two lanes and the emergency lane to their right. One of the cars could only be described as crushed metal. 

Some paramedics where tending to several people. Others were spreading plastic tablecloths on the ground. One of the bodies belonged to a little girl who didn't appear older than six. The little girl's body lay face down on the ground. A trail of splattered blood lay behind her. She had been flung through the windshield from her seat in the car and skidded onto the pavement face first.

"Oh, God…," Piper gasped as she saw the little girl.

The traffic began to pick up and the Charmed Ones could do nothing more than just drive away.

***

A man materialized among the accident and no one noticed his presence. Dressed in dark suit and stylish trench coat, he appeared handsome and amible. He walked among the four dead bodies and held his hand out to each when he stopped before them. Each time a soul arose from the dead body and took his hand. The people were shocked to see the scene.

"Who are you?" one asked.

"Death. I'm here to take you to the afterlife," he turned to last body. The little girl.

Her soul rose from the body and stared at Death wide eyed. She backed away from him until she passed her own body. Her eyes went even wider as she saw her own body. Frightened like so many children are. Innocent eyes looked around at the scene and he knew that she barely understood what was happening.

"Mama!" The girl ran past Death and towards a woman weeping at the ambulence. "Mama, what's happening!"

The girl's mother only wailed in response. As far as the woman knew, her daughter was now lying dead on the street. She couldn't see the soul of her little girl begging for a mother's reassurance.

"Mama… please," she began to cry alongside the woman.

"Sweetling, she can't see you. You were in an accident and your body has died," Death knelt by the child and placed his hand upon her shoulder to comfort her. "If you come with me, I'll take you to a place where you can wait for her."

"No! I want to stay with my mama," the little girl ran from Death. The other souls watched on unsure of what to do.

"Not now then, but if you don't mind I would like to leave you with a friend of mine," Death said smiled lovingly at the child.

A gray creature appeared next to him barely reaching half his height. Its face was human but it had no nose and its eyes resembled a feline's. It had a set of four wings and one pair of those wings had hands at the end of them. The body was covered in feathers and it's legs were a cross of a bird's and paws. Only piece of clothing was a shawl wrapped around its shoulder.

The creature cooed.

The girl smiled and let out a giggle.

"This is a Kinder. If you don't mind, it would like to keep you company. Is that all right?" Death smiled as the girl nodded. "Wonderful. I'll come back when you're ready."

Death turned his attention to the other souls who were waiting for him. He nodded at them and all but the child vanished to the afterlife.

The Kinder jumped into the air and began to sing. Laughter filled the girl and all sadness melted from her face. She began to follow the creature, leaving her mother to continue mourning.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Good day, ladies," the shopkeeper opened the door for the three witches with a cold courtesy. "Come again if you need my services."

"Bite me," Piper glared.

"I decline, but I know of several vampires who would enjoy the offer. Then again seeing your temperament, you might give them bad digestion," the shopkeeper smiled viciously and slammed the door behind them.

"He would know vampires… Damn, blood sucker! Trying to take advantage of witches," Piper fumed as they headed away from the antique shop.

"Hey, at least we got what we came for," Paige smiled in an attempt to cheer up her sister.

"Yeah, but we almost had to give him P3," Phoebe commented as she examined the elegant wood carved jewelry box in her hands. "Who knew the amulet of Valens would be worth more than all of us put together? Good thing Paige thought of that way to get it for us for $20."

"Amazing what happens when you threaten to orb all those magical artifacts to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean," the youngest sister gave a cocky smile.

"That's beside the point," Piper grabbed the jewelry box that contained the amulet. "He knew what it was, even though he's just a normal human. You think he would have given it us, the Charmed Ones. To help side of good and make sure that evil didn't buy this."

"Actually I think that little speech was part of the reason he upped the price. Looked like he must deal with a lot of witches from the expression of his face. They must use that a lot to try to get out of paying," Phoebe intertwined her fingers together and tried to avoid the angry glare that Piper gave her.

As much as Piper wanted to refute that, her sister was probably right. That fact alone didn't help her mood.

"Let's just get back to the car and get home," Piper headed to the public parking garage.

They had spent all afternoon in that blasted shop. She had done most of the arguing with the dealer. He was a greedy bastard and refused to settle for a cheap price for the amulet seeing what it did. A power amplifier for magic users, be they witches or demons. They both knew that if he thought they were just normal humans he would have let it go for a reasonable price from the get go. It wasn't useful to humans except as a pretty necklace. Witches were a different story.

He took advantage of the fact that certain items in his possession had much more value to witches than merely being decorative items. It went worse when she said they were the Charmed Ones. That just made the price skyrocket.

Piper was the one who had been doing all the haggling while her sisters looked around the shop. It wasn't until Paige threatened to orb everything in the store to the bottom of the ocean that they got anywhere. Haggling for the amulet of Valens had taken so long it was now nightfall.

"You're money or your life," a mugger jumped out from the bushes. He grabbed Piper's right arm and took out a knife. Piper roared in anger and froze him in his place.

"Get a better line," she pushed the now frozen man and he fell to the floor. She grabbed his knife and kicked it into a gutter. "Paige! Orb the frozen yutz to a jail cell or something."

"Damn, that antique dealer really got to her," Paige stared wide eye at the oldest sister.

"Oh, yeah," Phoebe merely nodded in agreement.

"Piper, let's see the amulet again," Paige asked when she thought Piper's temper finally simmered down a bit.

"It's not a toy, Paige. We shouldn't be flashing it around," Paige winced at Piper's cold statement. Apparently, she didn't wait long enough.

"I know that," Paige retorted, a bit insulted. "But we barely saw it in the shop. He just shoved in it that box and you argued all day for it. Who knows? He may have switched the amulet on us."

"You think of this now," Piper stopped in her tracks silently cursing at herself for letting her temper blind her. Of course, something like that could happen.

Piper flipped open the lid and sighed in relief that it was the same amulet. She took it out and held it up by the chain to let her sisters see it. It easily fit into the palm of her hand and she could still close her fist around it. The amulet was made in the appearance of a star holding a fiery sun inside it.

Piper touched one of the pointed tips on the star. She didn't realize that the tips were so sharp. It pricked her and a trickle of blood flowed down the star tip and into the sun. The sun glowed and absorbed the blood into it.

Shocked, Piper looked at her finger and she only saw a pin prick mark. It was hardly enough to let that much blood if any at all flow.

"Uh-oh," Phoebe looked concerned at her older sister. "What just happened there?"

"I think she might have activated the amulet or something," Paige lightly flicked the amulet and let it swing side to side from Piper's hand.

"Or something. At least we know it's has to be Valens," Piper looked around. "Come on. Let's get to the car."

***

"I wanna go!" Marryn glared at the Kinder.

"You can't. Please just stay with us," the creature flew in front of the girl.

"No, I have to see my brother. He should have died with me," she tried to get past the Kinder, but it swerved right and left to keep her from running off.

"You have the others to take care of! I'll be back. I promise," Marryn turned around and waved her hand at the seven other children that were watching the squabble.

She was ten when she died and the oldest out of all the children's souls. They've been under the Kinder's watchful eye for a few weeks now. She had been with the Kinder each time one of the other children had died. It tried to keep her away while it was gathering a new charge, but Marryn would always follow to see the new death. The others would listen to the Kinder, she really didn't.

Perhaps it was because she was older, at the age were the mask of innocence was wearing thin. When Death came and asked her to let the Kinder keep her company she declined him several times. In fact she tried running from him and the Kinder. She found out, real fast, that running from Death was really pointless. In the end, she reluctantly went with the Kinder.

What she truly wanted was to return to her own home. The Kinder wouldn't let her. So she rammed through it with all her might and the creature flew into a car. It flew after her when it made sure that the other children would stay put. Marryn was almost out of its range. There was only so far a Kinder would let the souls wander before it wouldn't dare leave them.

She almost made it.

A demon shimmered in front of her, human in appearance save for the eyes. They held nothing but a black abyss. He cocked his head to Marryn and smiled showing an impressive set of sharp teeth.

Marryn bared her teeth at it to proof she was hardly scared of it.

"Come with me, little one," he smiled wickedly, holding out an orb in one of his hands.

"I'm ten, not stupid. I know what you are and I'm not going to let you take me to hell," Marryn blew raspberry at him and stormed past him.

The demon held out the orb in his hand and shot out a red beam directly at Marryn. She tumbled out of the way, where many would have stand still like a deer caught in headlights. The red beam reflected off a car merely scorching the paint job.

"What was that, you freak?" Marryn looked up as she got off the floor. Now she was backing away but she was hardly scared. Only anger radiated from her face. Seemed like everything was trying to keep her from going home. "A cheap version of a Pokeball? And my mama said I was addicted."

"Much anger, I sense in you, little one," the demon smiled.

"What? Demons can't come up with their own lines, so you gotta steal them from Yoda?" Marryn flicked the demon off.

He took a few steps back. Obviously quite surprised to see a child acting like this. Marryn wondered how many kids this demon saw. Then again she was really rowdy with people she didn't like. Marryn didn't fear being hurt by the demon. She was already dead after all.

She then wondered how many children would have been captured by the demon already. How many had he taken? Would he stop if he got her or would he go after the others? She looked past the demon to where the others were. Rude and rowdy, she may be, but she wouldn't let the demon have a chance at the other children. Her family taught her better than that.

Suddenly the Kinder swept in front of her and hissed at the demon. Marryn wanted to yell at the Kinder. What could something, that was smaller than her, do against a demon?

In a moment her question was answered.

The Kinder was no longer the small sprite she had know for so many weeks. It transformed into a creature twice the size of the demon before them. The angel wings disappeared and they were replaced with large menacing bat wings. It hands and feet were now sharp talons and the feathers on its body no longer looked like soft dew feathers but now sharp and black like a bird of prey. The face was like a hideous griffin with a venomous look focused only on the demon.

When she was alive, Marryn would have been scared out of her mind if she saw this. Right now, she wasn't. It was the Kinder. This was how it protected her and the others each time a demon came. She had no reason to fear it. It would never hurt her.

The demon on the other hand…

***

"Did you hear that?" Piper looked up the ramp of the parking garage that led to the second level. She tucked amulet into her jacket pocket.

"I didn't hear anything," Phoebe comment as Paige glanced around.

Piper concentrated listening. The talking was barely audible to her, even though sound practically echoed in parking garages. It was a child's voice. That she could definitely hear.

Why couldn't her sisters hear it?

"A little kid's screaming at somebody," Piper ran up the ramp to reach the second level. She was shocked at the scene only a few feet before her.

Two demons fighting and in of all the places a parking garage. She would have mistaken one for a human if he didn't just send an electric blot out of his hands. The other she would have to be blind not to guess as a demon with its gargoyle like appearance.

What struck her was the sight of the little girl only yards away from the two battling demons. The human-like demon broke free of the gargoyle demon. It ran for the girl with a dagger ready in his hand.

"Leave us alone!" Marryn shrieked at the two entities.

"Hey, you heard the kid! Leave her alone," Piper ran forward and waved her hands at him. He exploded into dust that just fell on the girl. The knife harmlessly fell to the ground.

The other demon turned around and looked at her. Even with that inhuman face, Piper could see that it was truly shocked. It backed away only a few steps.

"You can see us?" it cocked it's head to one side. "You're a witch."

"Very percep… "

Before it let Piper shot out a comeback, it ran for the little girl. Why wasn't that child running? Piper could only guess she was frozen in fear.

With another wave of her hands, she shot her power out at the demon. It screamed in anguish and turned to dust. Piper didn't notice that the little girl was reaching out for the demon as the dust fell on her. She didn't realize that it was white dust instead of black. The scream made her close her eyes tight. It was nothing like she heard before from a demon. It was a scream echoing of sadness and rage.

"What was that?" Phoebe yelled out in surprise as she and Paige came up behind Piper just in time to see her vanquish the demon.

"I have no idea, but there's one less demon now" Piper looked back at her sisters. She then turned her attention back at the little girl.

To Piper's surprise, tears were flowing down girl's eyes.

"Why?" Marryn choked on her tears. "Why!"

Suddenly other children came out of no where. Two were sitting on the hood of a car to the Charmed Ones right. Another appeared behind Marryn. Three others were behind Paige and Phoebe. One more was touching the white dust that was the larger demon. They all looked at Piper with questioning eyes. Each pair of those eyes was crying.

Murmurs were heard. "No… no…" "She killed Kinder." "Why?" "Is she evil?" They echoed through the parking garage. They were scared. They were mournful. They were accusing. They continued to echo until it was all that filled up her mind.

Piper screamed.

All the children vanished.

Her sisters were holding her now. Tears were flowing down her face and Piper didn't know why. She held onto her sisters as if they were her only lifelines now. Her head was spinning. Piper could still feel those murmurs in her mind. They hurt so much. She blacked out as the only way to escape the hurt.

Phoebe and Paige half carried, half dragged Piper to the car and laid her onto the back seat.

"Come on, let's get home and find out what just happened here," Phoebe started the car and drove home.

TBC

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Author Notes: Sorry people were a bit confused by the prologue. This chapter makes much more sense with what the summary of the story said. I could have sworn I uploaded this along with the prologue. Another chapter coming real soon.

Side note: Kinder in this case is pronounced Kin-der.


End file.
